A Daily Download

A Daily Download has moved

Posted by sadmin at 
A Daily Download, along with all of Livemint's blogs has moved to a new Wordpress platform. Visit http://blog.livemint.com/a-daily-download/ for news, music, books, tech and life or simply click here . Also don't forget to update your RSS feed readers and tell all your friends! Share this post: email it! | del.icio.us! | digg it! | newsVine...

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Why Sunil Mittal will keep trying

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
As he has grown his family's business from bicycle parts and gelatin capsules to India's largest telco, Sunil Mittal has displayed several interesting traits. One, he has been willing to dilute his family's stake in the company as long as it means they end up with a smaller (but still controlling) holding in a much larger company. Two, he...

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Anil Ambani/Steven Spielberg

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I think the Anil Ambani - Steven Spielberg deal marks the beginning of a trend that could, er, see, say Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie dancing at the sangeet (a sort of pre-wedding song-and-dance thingie) ceremony of an Indian businessman's daughter/son. This isn't a rash prediction but one based on sound logic. Here's how: 1. Indian businessmen...

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Matthew Robson

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Most people have by now heard of Matthew Robson, the 15-year old who is currently enjoying his 15-minutes under the sun, thanks to his efforts to help the folks at Morgan Stanley and in Big Media to understand how teenagers consume media . While the report and Master Robson's insights have been received with much oohing and aahing by media companies...

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Michael Jackson

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Michael Jackson is dead . When I was in school in 1980s-Chennai, Michael Jackson was the man and Billie Jean was the song. My neignbour, several years older, was supposedly studying engineering at Manipal and he had introduced me to such engineering school staples as Jethro Tull and Deep Purple (and also such oddities such as Tina Charles and Giorgio...

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Nandan Nilekani

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
News that Nandan Nilekani has been appointed chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India doesn't come as a surprise to me because: 1. It was scooped by Indian Express . 2. It has been evident to anyone following Nandan's progress over the past decade that he would end up in public office, sooner than later. It also seems apt...

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Dif-tor heh smusma

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
It is evident that Mint is full of Star Trek junkies . Which probably is a good giveaway of the average age of the organisation. For most of us who grew up in India, our first brush with Star Trek was in the 1980s, when Doordarshan, the state-owned broadcaster aired the original series. I still remember episodes from that series -- such as Mudd's...

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Are you finding nothing to buy in bookstores?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I am, and that feeling of emptiness surely has to be a booklover's purgatory. Since I know the person who used to run India's biggest distribution chain and because I have met with the approval of the man who runs the excellent small bookstore in my neighbourhood -- he only communicates with people whose taste in books he approves of -- I asked...

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The recession must be over because....

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
... people are eating more chicken. Or chicken nuggets, to be exact. So claims an email from McDonald's India 's external communication agency that found its way into my inbox this morning. The purpose of the mail was to pitch for a story on what the sender of the email termed a "great product." The product in question is Chicken McNuggets...

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Why we believe

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
On Friday, India went to bed preparing itself for days, maybe weeks of uncertainty before the next government was sworn in. On Monday, it came into work, expecting almost the world of the new government whose swearing in is imminent, and merely a matter of form. The events of the intervening days may explain why the stock market breached the upper circuit...

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So, what's your letter of choice?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I read this morning that the recovery we are seeing in the Indian economy could be a W-shaped one. That set me thinking -- not about the economy or the recovery, but the alphabet. The thing is, economic cycles are plotted against time, which means that not every letter can be used to describe either a boom or bust. Time is usually plotted on the X-axis...

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Is Delhi better than Mumbai?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
That's my finger. I voted today -- the choice was quite simple really; I simply voted for the candidate who took the trouble to meet me and tell me what he plans to do if elected -- and, according to the Election Commission, so did one out of two Delhi-ites. That number is much higher than the 41-44% turnout seen in Mumbai, despite the general perception...

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I watched Watchmen

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Last Sunday, I watched Watchmen . Despite the not-so-favourable reviews the movie received internationally, and the fact that director Jack Snyder chose to do away with the entire metafiction loop in the book, I enjoyed the movie. Here's why: 1. The title sequence: Set to Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A Changing, this has to be the most evocative...

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Traffic and the slowdown

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Are there fewer vehicles on the roads of Indian cities? And is this because of the slowdown? If so, does it mean that most people whose job requires them to be on the road are now spending more time in the office -- not exactly the best way to boost sales in a slowdown? Or does it simply mean more people are using public transport? An executive I met...

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Why Mumbai showed India the finger

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Mumbai may have flipped India a bird by simply not turning up to vote yesterday -- despite attempts by activisit groups to get them to exercise their franchise. According to the Election Commission, voter turnout in Mumbai was between 42% and 45% this time, as compared to 47% in the 2004 parliamentary elections. But does anyone know why those who voted...

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